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Topic: Dangerous? It's relative, isn't it? (Read 2233 times)

About two weeks ago I had a ladder collapse under me and fell, maybe breaking or cracking a rib in the process. My own fault as I tend to concentrate too much on what I'm doing and not enough on where I am (like many feet off the ground). In this case I landed with my ribs on the edge of a canoe under me. Well, I'm rapidly getting better, though I will never know the damage as I don't want to subject myself to the dinosaur of an x-ray machine at the hospital, the roentgens of which might fry my innards!

Second major ladder accident for me - one would think I would learn. But brings into perspective what danger really is. Bikes are said to be dangerous to ride, but I feel safer on one as I am concentrating on the ride and not some Item (like a bikini clad blond) on the wayside. Lots of danger around if you really want to get into it all, not just bikes. So we try to be careful, but not let the danger dominate us.

Not much of an injury as these things go. But the irony of it struck me, just maybe there are things, like ladders, at least as dangerous as bikes. Then, the fact that it occurred shortly after my wife returned home after more than two years, thus making me into a patient instead of ? Thing is though, you just keep going, if you've got any sense, just keep riding on, overcoming what needs to be, putting up with what can't be. I suppose this is preaching, but I do realize that there are many others out there less fortunate in the injury department than I.

So I'm back, though I overdid a little yesterday and am taking it easy today. Sleep and rest is the best medicine of all.

Get well Larry, it's often what we take as just another task in our daily lives that reaches out to bite us. Using a ladder, lifting that box off the table to put it away, whatever. I believe we know that bikes are dangerous and possibly act ahead/out of the danger they can be. Only really have had one true incident that happened because of a bike out of all the countless injuries I sustained. I've actually gotten hurt worse in a friendly 2 0n 2 basketball game.

Thought about a PM, but - I had not read the post below, and my entry here was not even remotely near the target. I can only hope I'm not as big of an ass as that entry makes me look, and I'm very glad for you that your wife is back. Mea culpa

Larry, I'm glad you're OK. This comes under the heading of personal risk assessment. We all tend to accept risks that we are familiar with and thus think we can control. Last year I had a guy come in thinking about purchasing a bike. His buddy tagged along trying to talk him out of buying one of these "Murder Cycles". I engaged the buddy in the discussion to try to diffuse the issue. Turned out, the buddy's hobby was SKY DIVING. He thought this was perfectly safe. He folded his own chutes. He checked out the plane. Generally he was in control of his portion of the world. He didn't know a thing about motorcycles except that people died on them. We all do this to some extent. I've done some ....exciting.... things on bikes both on the street and in the dirt. I won't get on a plane. I'm sure we can all come up with examples from our own lives. All we can do is learn what we need to in order to avoid the avoidable. I bet next time you will make sure of the integrity of the ladder's condition and of it's proper placement., and not over extend yourself. Being human, like the rest of us you will come up with an entirely new way to screw up and hurt yourself. I really like to watch America's Funniest Home Videos. The clips are prime examples of (bad) risk assessment.

Thats ok UncleEarnie, we all get off track at times and maybe I haven't been explaining myself too well. I like the posts of Goeff, Will and Vince as I think they and we are starting to get to the core of the matter, which, in a rather hazy way, I was trying to get at in my first post. But you have extended that somewhat in the idea of risk assessment and understanding the parameters of risk. We would be a bunch of couch potatoes if we didn't take some risk now and again. I quit skydiving (very early days of the sport) when I began to question my mental hold on things. I was doing a 30 second delay before opening my chute and got this feeling I didn't want to open it as I was enjoying myself so much. Then I got ground rush which occurs at about 1800 feet and finally opened. Don't know what got into me but decided to give it up. Just a dumb kid at the time. A lot of the pleasure of skydiving at the time was the group interaction and social life we enjoyed. We were a mixed group, from an heir of J. P Morgan to some Filipino restaurant workers, we enjoyed some good times. A head on collision while going up to the airfield when a drunken woman took a curve too wide and ran into us helped hasten the club's demise (Santa Barbara Skyhawks). That was the first time I cracked some ribs BTW. The others in the car were far worse off than me.

So if we are going to be involved in things which constitute a risk, I suppose then it behooves us to enjoy that part of it too. Or enjoy the process of avoiding accidents through careful driving and preparation. At the same time, one never knows when an accident will occur - part of the process of living. But not taking care while working off a ladder is pretty dumb, isn't it?

Add it all up Larry we've all did some ..hmmm..less than smart things while we should have had a better hold on our thoughts. I would say we all have suffered from Walter Mitty-ism at times. I'd hate to list things I've done that weren't the best choices.